So the lap times of the Camel Honda duo weren’t too far from the top riders in the class today, with both Barros and Bayliss satisfied with the progress they have made with their bikes between the morning and afternoon sessions.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda“This is a very technical circuit, it’s also very long and tests the teams out, but a good draught can be a real help in getting your lap-times down, although by the end most riders manage to get the bike right and go fast here. Lots of riders did similar lap-times today, and there is not much to choose between them. We are working hard towards the decisive qualifying tomorrow afternoon and we’re on the road to improving the set-up. We still have to work through a few things, but we are working well and in full harmony.”

Alex Barros – Camel Honda – 1’59.991 - 9th fastest“This morning I felt a little rusty after four weeks off, but by this afternoon I had got into the groove. We have already made big improvements to the bike compared to this morning, especially in the suspension, but there is still work to do to pick out the right set-up and get up to speed, which should be a lap around the low 1’59s. We set the two bikes up differently and now understand a few more things. Tomorrow we will work a bit on the geometry to improve the bike’s performance in the corners, as well as the tyres, because I still haven’t found a completely suitable rear tyre; However we have improved gradually today and I think we will do the same tomorrow.”

Troy Bayliss – Camel Honda – 2’00.185 - 13th fastest“I’m really happy with the progress we made between the morning and afternoon sessions, because the bike is considerably better and I managed to lower the lap-time by about a second and a half. Nine-tenths here at Brno isn’t too much really for the first day of practice and I’m confident in the work we are doing, also because in the afternoon session I managed several laps on the same tyre at a pretty decent pace. Even though the last two races haven’t gone as I would have liked, my feeling with the bike has improved considerably and this weekend has got off to a good start. We’ve found a good direction to work in and I hope to make some improvements tomorrow too.”